The first snow
by CrystallizedPen
Summary: Not many happy moments with the snow, he soon grew emotionless towards that thing.Now, after hearing a story from Princess Estellise, Flynn starts wondering if snow was really that bad.


Hello everyone! This time I bring you guys a short story. It features our favorite pairing: Yuri and Flynn.

This idea just suddenly come to me and I decide to write it down. It is a short one, so there is not anything special about the plot. Just some random thoughts of Flynn and Yuri. It's just a normal and daily features fic.

Anyway, enjoy!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Vesperia and its characters. If I do own it, Flynn would be playable from the start to the end of the game in the XBOX360 version.

* * *

**The first snow**

"Flynn, Flynn!"

Flynn stood up in order to bid a proper greeting to the princess, pushing the chair backwards carelessly and knocked another stack of documents and papers behind his chair all over the floor in the process. Damn it, he forgot that his room was now the place that people called storage for official documents, paper works, and again mostly papers.

"Are you okay Flynn?" The princess being her usual caring self ran forward to check on him. However, carefulness was not one of her strong points. Even though they both have the 'care' in the front, 'careless' and 'caring' was a terrible combination for the pink-haired girl. The blond Commandant concernedly stared at another fallen pile of paper, as he couldn't do anything more than gave out a soft sigh. Would today get any uglier?

"I am so sorry." Estelle looked away from embarrassment; she couldn't dare to face Flynn in the eyes. The expression of those blue orbs only reflected how guilty she was.

Gave her yet another soft smile, Flynn sat down and started gathering the scattered papers. He would need to make a note to himself asking Sodia to help him organize this mess-created by both Princess Estellise and himself.

After few minutes of playing gathering game, the Commandant and the Princess somehow managed to return the room into its previous state. Flynn fell flat on his chair, brought one hand to brush over his forehead subconsciously, and annoyingly found out there were a few wrinkles impelled on his broad forehead. Another sigh escaped the said blonde's lips. At this rate, he would definitely look like an old man when he turned thirty due to much stress lately.

Over his shoulder, the princess lithely sat herself down on the sill of the window, and then reached her hands out for the iron bolt and pushed the glasses open. A fairly strong wind flowed playfully into the room through the invited entrance, and to Flynn wishfully hope, it missed the stack of papers.

The Commandant rose his head up a bit and enjoyed the feeling of the wind caressing some of his blond strands of hair whipped around his cheek and flung freely behind his neck, only adding the messiness to his already messy hair. The wind felt cold.

"Oh Princess Estellise? Didn't you have something that you need to tell me just now?" Flynn suddenly recalled as he walked toward the window and sat on the other end of the sill, observing the amusement in the princess' eyes. She must have found out about some interesting things. Whenever she did, Flynn was always the one that she shared her discovery first. He was quite fond of it, considering himself being the princess first and only friend inside this castle. Well at least one year ago. Now she had so many friends, all cared deeply for her. Since then, she spent most of her time hanging out with them. When she came back to the castle, she usually locked herself inside the library or her own chamber and busied herself writing fairy tales for the children or reading some new books she found on one of her little adventure with her friends. Most of the time, the genius mage Rita was the one kept her in accompany. The amount of time Flynn and the Princess met and had a chat had dramatically decreased recently.

Not that he felt jealous or anything, he just felt his importance value had been reducing. He also felt lonely at some point, to not having anyone to talk with…at all. Somehow, like her, when inside this four-protective walls castle, Flynn didn't have much chance to express himself, to try things that a respective Commandant would not even think about trying, to say things that would make a good reason for the Imperial Council to strip him off his rank. Well, not that complaining now did him any good, he chose this path for himself, and he knew that he would have to sacrifice many things to walk this path until the end. Knowing that in his mind, Flynn still decided to move on, no matter how fearsome obstacles might appear to push him back. Nothing, nothing would be able to make him retreating.

"I heard from the weather forecast mages that it will be snowing soon. I am so excited over this news. Since this is the first time we will be able to feel the snow right inside the city. Everyone will surely have a wonderful time playing with this beautiful gift from the Spirit above, building snowmen, snow fighting without going outside the city. Does it not sound wonderful to you, Flynn?" The Princess clapped her hands over her chest, dreamily said. It would be an interesting experience once in a lifetime.

Flynn blinked an eye at the view of the capital and captured it inside his head, adding a few small white dots falling from the sky in his imagined picture. Snow huh? It wasn't all that exciting to him. To be honest, he had various experiences with snow before. Snow was once his happiness. Then it was just an unbearable feeling of coldness when he was thrown out to the street by his own father on a snowy day. The long forgotten coldness occupied his heart, as the child of ten years old walked away from the place he once called home. Now, only snow filled up his footprints- erased the proof of his existence. Only the sourly pain of white snow washed bitterly over his injured arm when he was attacked by some monsters on his survival journey to wherever his bare feet would allow him to go (which ended up to be the lower quarter of Zaphias.) Then an avalanche that almost buried him and his knights when they were once on an important mission year ago. Not many happy moments with the snow, he soon grew emotionless towards such thing. Snow brought up bad memories of the past that he wanted to forget.

The princess anxiously waited for a response from the blond, but nothing came out from that thin lips still. Estelle moved a little bit closer toward the said Commandant. She could feel the uneasiness in his heart, reflected clearly in those ocean's eyes that was blankly staring at nothing in particular. She need to do something to clean that expression off his eyes, otherwise it would be such a waste to let sadness filled those beautiful orbs without having someone to try and wipe it away.

Estelle reached her hand out and gently hold onto Flynn's one, taking it into her own and giving a soft squeeze. She was not sure if this little action would be enough to comfort her blond friend, but she still decided to give it a try rather than sitting and doing nothing.

"Neh, Flynn. May be in the past, you had to experience a lot of sadness and difficulty, but…" Estelle pulled the hands closer to her as she continued, "Sometimes, it is best to let go of the past, because no one can live within it forever. If you keep chasing the shadow of something that you know you will never be able to undo or change it, then it is pointless to keep chasing them. Why don't you open yourself a little more, to your friends and me? The present is the only thing that matters. It can change the future, and it will then become the past that you proudly chose for yourself."

Flynn listened carefully. Every single word the princess said carved deep inside his heart. She was actually right, he should just let go of the painful past and hold onto the future. _'I'm so pathetic, after how much I tried to move on with my duties, I couldn't even do the same thing for my feelings.' _Flynn laughed bitterly at himself, at how hopeless he was.

"You have lots of good friend besides you, who willingly to support you and protect you with all their minds, especially _him_."

Flynn knew immediately whom Princess Estellise was talking about, and a fast smile crossed his lips when the image of a raven-haired one invaded his mind. Just the thought about _him_ could make the Commandant getting distracted from whatever work he was doing.

"I have an interesting story that may help you. Do you care to give it a shot?" Putting a finger to her lips, the Princess winked her eyes in a way that totally reminded him of the Krityan friend of her. The same gesture, the same playful tone but he knew that the princess only wanted the best for him, as her friend. He nodded his head sharply. This would only do him good, or so he thought.

* * *

"Two buckets please."

"I'm on it."

"One more bucket over here."

"I heard you, don't need to shout." Yuri shouted back at whoever was shouting at him with twice times the volume. Ever since this morning, Yuri was stuck at the middle of lower quarter' square trying his hardest to pump the water out of the well for almost every house within the area. Hanks had come and knocked on his rented room early this morning and asked him to help out with the task that didn't appropriate for an old man like him, or so he said. Yuri gladly accepted, and came down the square within two minutes using the window yet again. Now, a slight wave of regret washed over him. It was hard to believe that his bones were this frail and soft as butter. He already felt his bone started to crumble, and his temper got over his logical thinking, Yuri didn't even recognize that he was actually shouting at a middle-age woman, who was staring back at him wide-eyed and somewhat irritated. Yuri slapped his forehead then quickly apologized to the woman. _'Damn it. It is because those weather forecast mages said that it would be snowing, now that everyone were all worked up and competitively prepared for the upcoming winter. Especially with the provision of water, and it led to this situation that I can't get myself out of it.' _

Yuri mumbled to himself, while continuously filled up buckets after buckets with water. The hero of the heroic guild Brave Vesperia peeked tiredly at the waiting line of women with empty buckets in their hands, chatting over trivial things. No one of them seemed to care about the problem that Yuri was having. Huh, he wouldn't expect them to notice anyway.

"Yuri? What are you doing?" He recognized that warm voice. Just the right person he needed to see.

Yuri stopped his pumping up and down pattern for a moment to glance at the figure that was walking towards him. "Yo Flynn, nice to see you here." Yuri waved his hand wearily at the Commandant, who also waved back his hand in reply.

"So what are you doing?"

"Can you see for yourself? I'm doing the world a huge favor by pumping and filling these empty buckets with water." Yuri explained while pointing his thumb at the waiting to be filled buckets. "I have been working at it since this morning, and both my hands now are like noodles. But I'm afraid that I won't be able to have a break until…you know." Yuri's eyes went back to the line of women who were looking at him, and started complaining about his abrupt stop to chat with the Commandant, which only wasted their time.

Then what about women? They could talk like forever, but they didn't let the men have that privilege of chatting. "Tsk! Flynn," the raven haired turned his head back to face his childhood friend, who was grinding and seemed enjoying the hell out of himself for whatever reason, "Do you mind helping me out?"

"Of course not. Just go and have a break for yourself. I will handle the rest." Flynn replied with a sense of confidence in his voice, at the same time started taking off his gauntlets and tossed it over to Yuri, who caught them without fail.

Yuri passed the dipper to the blond and quickly found himself an empty carte to sit on. The Commandant seemed to enjoy the job he was given. The supportive fact was the smile hung widely on his thin lips. Yuri loved that smile, and always felt his heart lightened up a bit just by looking at it.

Then his mind wandered off back to yesterday, when Judith came by his room and paid him a visit. After the two finished talking about trivial things, the Krityan excitedly told him about the upcoming snow days.

"_Yuri, do you know that our Krityan had this little cute and romantic belief?" Judith said while gazing down the street from the window. _

"_Huh?" Yuri asked while wiping the blood stained on his sword after a fight with the monsters at the outskirts of the lower quarter just a few hours ago. Long time no see the Krityan, she was still as attractive and beautiful as the image inside Yuri's memories. People hardly changed in one year, he supposed. _

"_We-Krityan believe that if you kissed the one you love on the day of the first snow, the two of you will live happily ever after." A smile crossed on the Krityan's face as she turned around to look at Yuri, who had his eyes looking at nothing in particular. _

_After a long while, he finally snapped out of the dazzled state and replied, "It sounds like something that Estelle would write in her fairy tales book."_

"_Heh? Is it? Why don't you try it out yourself and see if it is true? I don't mind to live happily ever after with you." Another amusing smile crept across her face, as she put a finger on her chin elegantly, "But I'm afraid someone will get jealous."_

Ok, so that was she meant. She was just indirectly told him to go and confess his feeling that he held towards Flynn for over years, and then live happily ever after. Why did she have to be so nosey? Could he just keep it to himself?

* * *

Within the next two days, the very first drops of snow painted parts of the city white. Flynn woke up early that morning, reaching out for the window and gazed at the magnificent picture laid out in front of him. He did not like snow, but that didn't mean he should have an aversion to it because of his personal problems.

After taking a nice and hot shower, Flynn dressed himself up with a black shirt with long sleeves, a grey trouser and matching boots. Today was his day off, so Flynn decided to take a break after doing bunches of paper works by making a little trip to visit his friend.

Yuri shifted from his lying position as he heard a knock on his door. That knock's owner turned out to be Flynn.

"Why so formal? You usually barges in without saying anything."

"Are you talking about yourself?" Flynn replied with a wearily tone, and chose the empty space besides Yuri to settle himself.

Yuri then noticed a few strands of color occupied on the blond's face. He looked better then the last time he saw him, which was only two days ago. "Finally got some time off, huh? That's good. You seem stressful lately."

Flynn chuckled softly, Yuri might act playful and arrogant most of the time, but after knowing him for over a decade, Flynn came to realize that Yuri was caring and owed a fiercely strong determination to protect those he cared. Flynn included.

Flynn didn't like snow. But he wasn't so sure if he felt the same for the first snow.

"Will you kiss me?"

Yuri turned his head, too shocked at his sudden request. A faint strand of red darted across his face, he was lost at words, didn't sure what he suppose to say.

"Do you know that today is the first day of snow?" he finally managed to say something, though mechanically.

"Yes."

"Do you know about the tale of the first snow?" he continued asking.

"The belief of Krityan people? If that is the thing you are talking about then yes. Lady Estellise told me about it the other day."

"Do you mean it?"

A silence waltzed across the room, as Flynn tighten the grip on Yuri's hand. It only proved that he did really mean it. That was a surprise; Yuri had never expected this turn of event nor to hear Flynn's confession in this kind of situation at all. It was not really romantic, frankly. Oh well, but at last the Commandant had finally decided to throw his pride away and said it. What an effort he put up. So after all the troubles that he went through, shouldn't he deserve something as present?

Replying to that firm decision, Yuri brought his hand up to the jaw of Flynn's face, pulling him closer, the coal-colored pair of eyes met with the blued one. A light shade of red painted on the Commandant's cheek as he slowly closed his eyes, waiting for the other to close the distance between their wanted to be claimed lips. And then,

Yuri abruptly pushed the blond back, sending him fell off the bed, and landed on the wooden floor with a loud thump. Yuri tried to suppress a huge laugh at the priceless expression that he had never seen before now somehow registering on the Commandant's face. But his attempt failed at that and he burst out laughing.

"Yuri!?" That was all his ability of speaking allowed Flynn to say. He was just too confused. Or Yuri just being his sarcastic self? Or Flynn was just falling right into Yuri's trap and made a fool out of himself?

"I've just remember some errands that I need to run. Maybe later." And with only just that, Yuri managed to pull off a smirk, before leaping out of the window, and landed softly on the ground as agile as a cat could do. He quickly turned on his feet and immediately waltzed towards the direction led to the public quarter. His laughter filled the freshly cold atmosphere still.

Flynn stood up and walked towards the window, gazing at the running figure of his childhood best friend, he could not help but gave off a chuckle. Snow, it wasn't really that bad, was it? At least this was the first winter that Flynn slowly took a liking to it.

"Repede, please remind me about this later. We just can not let him go off that easily now can we?"

The dog barked, and in dog language it was an agreement.

Even without going through this little tale, the two of them would live happily ever after just fine. The tale just helped to strengthen their unbreakable bond a little bit. With that thought in mind, Flynn walked down the stairs, setting his feet onto the very same road that Yuri walked on just a few moments ago. They might walk their own different paths somday, but he was sure for one thing that their paths would eventually cross. Then they would be able to walk side by side again.

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A/n: There it's done. How was it? I totally understand if for some of you this fic is 'creepy'. But do give me reviews okay? This is my third one shot of TOV.


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